Having worked in county fire/medical dispatch I feel as though the 911 tapes and other communications that are recorded in dispatch are a matter of public record. Making these tapes public is a way of assuring that there is a level of transparency in the dispatching process, a way for the public to know and understand how their crises are being handled on the dispatching side of it. Also, because of HIPPA regulations any names and addresses are deleted before being made public, so unless the caller is wildly famous, generally there is a level of privacy or anonymity there.
911 calls released to public?
- Thread starter minneola24
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HotelCo
Forum Deputy Chief
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I don't see a problem with releasing them, as long as names and addresses are omitted.
EMTinNEPA
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In the same vein, then, by the logic here, the trip sheet for every call run by an FD-based EMS service should be public record, since our tax dollars pay for the FD.
Ridryder911
EMS Guru
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Ironically, autopsies are a public record as well. One of the few medical records that is of public view.
R/r 911
I can see the argument for transparency, and don't think they should be made entirely private, but I think that there should be more legal protections.
People are at their most vulnerable when they're calling 911. It's got to be awful for everyone you know to get to listen to you sobbing on the phone to dispatch. Or imagine that your kid or spouse just died in an incident that was called in, and now can't avoid listening to their last minutes because they're all over the news.
Besides, some people are stupid. If some kid thinks a call will wind up public, he might be slower to make the call.
I think that the caller and the victim (or family, if they're dead) should always have to give consent before the calls can be put on air. Failing that, I think identifying details and medical information should always be redacted. At the very least, I think the victim should have the right to request that a call not be made public.
People are at their most vulnerable when they're calling 911. It's got to be awful for everyone you know to get to listen to you sobbing on the phone to dispatch. Or imagine that your kid or spouse just died in an incident that was called in, and now can't avoid listening to their last minutes because they're all over the news.
Besides, some people are stupid. If some kid thinks a call will wind up public, he might be slower to make the call.
I think that the caller and the victim (or family, if they're dead) should always have to give consent before the calls can be put on air. Failing that, I think identifying details and medical information should always be redacted. At the very least, I think the victim should have the right to request that a call not be made public.